Peter Lohmann's Podcast
00:25:35 · Matt Luke, Peter Lohmann
[00:25:35] S1: Mhmm. I've been exploring more with AI just even in the last month. So another example of how we use it is with Marblism. When I get a phone call to my direct my direct line, I first have that AI receptionist take the call and says, Matt's not available right now, but I'm here to help. What can I do for you? And it will dive into the knowledge base again, try to answer best it can. If it can't answer, then it says, hey, let me get this information and we'll follow-up with an email as soon as possible. So that AI agent then gets that person's email address and then drafts an email off that phone call and puts it in my outbox ready to be sent. [00:26:19] S0: Very cool. I haven't heard of that marbleism. [00:26:21] S1: Mhmm. And, again, I'm sure there's lots of different tools to use, but that just happens to be one I started using. [00:26:28] S0: Got it. Alright. Moving around the rest of the business. Talk to me about accounting, trust accounting, and your corporate accounting. [00:26:36] S1: Mhmm. So another one of the tools that we're using, not every tool is a piece of software. Some of it is outsourced vendors. [00:26:44] S0: Sure. [00:26:44] S1: We use APM help Yep. For accounting. And specifically, I use them for their daily bank recs. [00:26:51] S0: Yeah. We do too.
00:26:51 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:26:51] S0: Yeah. We do too. [00:26:51] S1: So I get... I don't use the full accounting suite, but I do get the daily email if there's any one off deposits or any... Anything that needs some attention so that we can... I can quickly get that changed in the AppFolio. That has been huge. It's a stress relief. So I use them for the daily bank rec, and then I also set up an e... Meeting with them one time a month just to go through the reconciling side of things, make sure everything's looking great. And then we go through the financial diagnostics as well too, just to make sure those are all on point and there's no major issues. So that's how I use APM help. The rest of the steps, I've really boiled down to clicking buttons for the bookkeeping side. So we do some things that, again, may break the mold a little bit, but we don't take any payments other than online. That's the only option. We do use the payslip option through AppFolio. Yep. It's for tenants that wanna pay with a money order or cash that can take it to Walgreens, Walmart. [00:27:52] S0: Yep.
00:27:52 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:27:52] S0: Yep. [00:27:53] S1: And then... So again, I broke down pretty much all the bookkeeping steps into just clicking buttons and checking off the steps as as the progress goes through AppFolio. And so I'm able to not have a bookkeeper on the team because I'm able to click those steps. One other thing that I haven't brought up is that my daughter is a virtual assistant for me. She... And she spends about an hour a day when she's available, when she needs extra spending money at college. So so some of the steps that I I spend an hour or two a day on actually end up to her Mhmm. If she needs some extra money [00:28:33] S0: Got it. At college. [00:28:34] S1: So I let her handle those steps, or I'll do them if she's not available. [00:28:37] S0: That's great. And is APM help doing your corporate accounting as well? [00:28:42] S1: Not the corporate accounting side. So for the corporate accounting, we do use QuickBooks, and I do have a bookkeeping company that handles that. [00:28:51] S0: Okay. Very good. Alright. That makes sense. How about processing rental applications?
00:28:51 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:28:51] S0: Okay. Very good. Alright. That makes sense. How about processing rental applications? [00:28:57] S1: Mhmm. So when an application is completed, they do that through our website. So after showing, all of the showings get a email with the link to the application that comes in, and then I use an outsourced service to run the application. So we've set up criteria with that service and we get a score on the application based on our criteria. We then get a task in LeadSimple to answer the questions about the scoring and that then provides the answer of either approved or denied to that person that's applying. [00:29:36] S0: Okay. Got it. And what... What's the name of the company that does your screening? [00:29:41] S1: NTN. [00:29:43] S0: NTN. National Tenant Network. Yeah. Think I've heard them. [00:29:45] S1: Yeah. Yep. [00:29:47] S0: Okay. So they're taking the rental application. They are doing the credit criminal eviction history checks Landlord verification. Verification. Yep. And then comes back with a score, and then that kicks off a LeadSimple process for you to approve or to decline the tenant. Yep. And then... [00:30:05] S1: So we enter the score into LeadSimple, and do they have a verifiable income? Do they have positive landlord references? And then that uses some not... I'm not sure what the word is. Conditional logic [00:30:21] S0: Yep. [00:30:21] S1: In LeadSimple to then move them to the approved stage or the denied stage. [00:30:27] S0: Got it. Did you set up all these LeadSimple workflows yourself? Did you use them or or, like, a consultant?
00:30:27 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:30:27] S0: Got it. Did you set up all these LeadSimple workflows yourself? Did you use them or or, like, a consultant? [00:30:34] S1: Yeah. So I used them for the first two Okay. Which was included in our onboarding package, and then I got pretty savvy on it myself, so then I just started building it out from there. One of the things I'm pretty aware of is I try not to create too many processes. I think we only have nine for the entire... [00:30:53] S0: Love that. You listening, Wolfgang? I did look at his list, [00:30:58] S1: and I think there's, like, a 100 there. So... You know? But, yeah, try to keep it very simple. I have them in order on the toolbar. Yep. I numerically ordered them based on kind of of the workflow, and I try not to add more processes. The more I add, the more complex it gets. So for me, I like to figure out how can we make the process as simple as possible first, and then I go and create. [00:31:21] S0: Dude, we're fully aligned on that. Fully aligned. And when I meet people who have, like, 30 processes in LeadSimple like Wolfgang, I'm just... My mind is just like, how do you keep all these up to date? How do you even remember which ones you have? Mhmm. Like, I would I would end up making another process for a process I already had. [00:31:37] S1: Mhmm. One of the things that I wrote down here is that I'm not sure who this quote's from, but it is... The quote goes, possibly the most common error is to optimize something that shouldn't exist at all. [00:31:48] S0: That's an Elon Musk quote, actually.
00:31:48 · Peter Lohmann, Matt Luke
[00:31:48] S0: That's an Elon Musk quote, actually. [00:31:50] S1: Is it? Okay. So when I think through something that comes across my desk that isn't automated, isn't off my plate, that's the first thing I think about. Do I actually need to do this at all? And if I I do, why? And I just take some time to to think through that first. Even if the industry has done it one way, can I do it some way different that's gonna save me time or just take it off my plate entirely? [00:32:20] S0: Totally agree. [00:32:21] S1: If I can't get around that step, then I go to what is the most optimized way to do that? Is there a different way to do it? Is there a better way to do it? Is there a shorter, faster way to do it? So I think through that. And if I... Once I have that need optimized, then I move to automate. Can I fully automate that task? Yep. If I can't automate it, then I go to outsource it. Can I send it to someone other than me that can tackle it for me? And then if I do need to outsource it, then I have to create the standard operating procedure to make it as simple as possible for someone else to tackle. [00:33:02] S0: Yeah. Are you using any automation type tools besides LeadSimple? Like, are you using some of the more advanced things that I don't even know about, like robotic process automation or some kind of AI thing that drives a computer for you or, like, scripts or anything. [00:33:22] S1: Yeah. I know where my skill sets end right before that.